Books & Resources

Greens, Grains & (Our) Roots: A National Public Health Week Cookbook from APHA, with a photo of small branches and green leaves in the background

NPHW 2023 Cookbook

Food shapes our culture and health. It tells a story of who people are and where they come from. To help celebrate NPHW and our cultures, we put together a cookbook. Explore 18 unique recipes from various regions of the world and make a delicious meal the whole family can enjoy.  

View the cookbook.

Note: Each of the recipes found in this cookbook were adapted from various creators who are linked to throughout the cookbook. A special thank you to those original creators for their recipes.


Books

Did you know reading can help your focus and memory, reduce stress and even improve mental health? Celebrate National Public Health Week by picking up one of these suggested books from your local library or bookstore. From memoirs to children’s book, we have something for everyone (and for each NPHW theme). Want to read more? Check out the APHA Book Store

Community

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, book coverThe Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

The Art of Gathering argues that we rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Priya Parker sets up an approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. The result is a book that may alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue—and how you host and attend them.

We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

Vaccinating America: The Inside Story Behind the Race to Save Lives, and End a Pandemic by Brent Ewig and Michael Fraser

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Violence Prevention

Between the World and Me, book coverBetween the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis through this book. In a letter to his adolescent son, Coates shares the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of significant life experiences. Between the World and Me illuminates the past, confronts our present, and offers a vision for a way forward.

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis

The Night of the Gun by David Carr

Citizen Outlaw: One Man's Journey from Gangleader to Peacekeeper by Charles Barber

Reproductive and Sexual Health

My Government Means to Kill Me, book coverMy Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

Born into a wealthy Black Indianapolis family, Earl “Trey” Singleton III leaves his overbearing parents and their expectations behind by running away to New York City with only a few dollars in his pocket. In the city, Trey meets up with a cast of characters that changes his life forever. This book is a fast-paced story that lends itself to a larger discussion about what it means for a young gay Black man in the mid-1980s to come to terms with his role in the midst of political and social changes.

 

Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Karen Blumenthal

At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

Celebrate Your Body (and Its Changes, Too!): The Ultimate Puberty Book for Girls by Sonya Renee Taylor

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Mental Health

The Collected Schizophrenias, book coverThe Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang

Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esme Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the "collected schizophrenias" but to those who wish to understand it as well. Wang discusses the medical community's own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. The Collected Schizophrenias disproves misconceptions and provides a look into a condition long misunderstood.

Coco’s Fire: Changing Climate Anxiety into Climate Action by Jeremy Wortzel, Lena Champlin and The Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Climate Committee

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

I'm Telling The Truth. But I'm Lying: Essays by Bassey Ikpi

Monday Is Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Rural Health

Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America, book coverRural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America

This array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories, and personal essays, along with anecdotes from the authors' real lives, dives deep into the complexity of rural America and the people who call it home. Fifteen authors - diverse in ethnic background, sexual orientation, geographic location, and socioeconomic status - explore the challenges, beauty, and nuances of growing up in rural America.

 

Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey by James Rebanks

The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town by Brian Alexander

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh

Accessibility

We Move Together, book coverWe Move Together by Anne McGuire, Kelly Fritsch

We Move Together follows a mixed-ability group of kids as they creatively negotiate everyday barriers and find joy and connection in disability culture and community. This children’s book is a colorful exploration of all the ways that people navigate through the spaces around them and a celebration of the relationships we build along the way.

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity By Dr. Devon Price

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice Wong

We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation by Eric Perez

Food and Nutrition

You and I Eat The Same, book coverYou and I Eat The Same by Chris Ying

In nineteen essays and stories, You and I Eat the Same explores the ways in which cooking and eating connect us across cultural and political borders, making the case that we should think about cuisine as a collective human effort in which we all benefit from the movement of people, ingredients, and ideas. Discover more about the bonds created by the ways we eat.

 

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition & Health by Marion Nestle

Let’s Eat: Mealtime Around the World by Lynne Marie

Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino

Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family by Hannah Howard

Culture

This is How We Do It, book coverThis is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe

This book provides a window into traditions that may be different from our own as well as mirrors reflecting our common experiences. Inspired by his own travels, Matt Lamonthe transports readers across the globe and back with this picture book and gives kids a unique look into the lives of others across the globe.

 

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

Take Care of Yourself: The Art and Cultures of Care and Liberation by Sundus Abdul Hadi

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia by Thomas Healy

Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-fatness and Anti-Blackness by De'Shaun L Harrison


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